The auto sector is in bad shape due to the Corona epidemic and the surge in the prices of petrol and diesel. Companies are introducing various schemes to woo customers.
But demand for CNG vehicles is expected to pick up during this financial year. The reason for this is that their running cost is less and now CNG is easily available everywhere.
Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest carmaker, expects sales of CNG vehicles to grow by 36 per cent this fiscal year and will be able to sell 144,000 units. Apni has 8 CNG vehicles in its portfolio and plans to offer the CNG option for all small cars.
South Korea's auto company Hyundai also plans to offer a CNG option for the Hyundai Accent sedan this year. They are focusing on the fleet segment of customers.
Maruti and Hyundai sell about a dozen factory-fitted CNG models. Shashank Srivastava, executive director of Maruti Suzuki, said the difference between petrol and diesel prices is steadily reducing.
Even if we leave out this aspect, the price of fuel has increased a lot, which is not good news for the industry. If oil prices remain at high levels, then this will affect sales. In such a situation, CNG emerges as a viable alternative.
The cost of running a CNG vehicle is Rs 1.5 per km which is less than half of that of petrol and diesel vehicles. A premium of 50 to 60 thousand rupees has to be paid for buying CNG vehicles while for diesel vehicles it is 125000 to 150000 rupees.
Srivastava said it is not a matter of acceptability but of fuel availability. Due to this, sales of CNG vehicles were affected earlier. But now the government is pushing for expansion of the CNG network.
Thus, the number of CNG outlets and cities with CNG availability will double in the next 6-7 months.
By the end of this year, 3400 CNG distribution outlets will be operational in 373 cities. At the end of last year, there were 1730 CNG stations in 190 cities of the country.
Maruti Suzuki has stopped selling diesel cars and is focusing on petrol and CNG vehicles. Hyundai, on the other hand, says it will continue with all three options. Hyundai is currently offering CNG models in Centro, Grand i10, Grand i10 Neos and sedan Aura.
The company sold 117000 CNG vehicles in the last financial year, which is 7 per cent higher than the FY 2019.
